February 6. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 3G1 
1848,1 there stated what I conceived to he its meaning. 
The early forms in which it was written, will be seen from the 
synonymes, they were Pearemaine and Peare-maine. In 
some early historical works of the same period, I have 
seen Charlemagne written as Charlemainc , the last portion 
of the word having the same termination as Pearemaine. 
Now, Charlemagne being derived from Carolus magnus there 
is every probability that Peannaiue is derived from Pyrus 
magnus. The signification therefore of Pearmain is the 
Great Pear Apple, in allusion, no doubt to the varieties 
known by that name bearing a resemblance to the form of 
a pear.” 
Another tenure similar to that alluded to in the above 
quotation is thus particularised in Blount’s Ancient Tenures. 
“ Walter de Hevene held the manor of Ronham, iu the county 
of Norfolk, in capile of our Lord the King, by serjancy of 
two measures ( duarum mutamm) of wine ( vini) made of 
Permains."} 
THE CHINESE YAM (Dioscorea Battuta). 
“ I see, in a recent number of The Cottage Gardener, 
that the new Chinese Potato is not Dioscorea Japonica. I 
also see, in the “ North British Agriculturist,” an adver¬ 
tisement—‘The New Chinese Potato ( Dioscorea Japonica).’ 
Is this a hoax, like the ‘Pernea Perennial Turnip,’ last 
year, in the same paper, for which we paid 3s. Cd. per 
packet ? Many people would give ten shillings for four 
roots, as an experiment, if they thought it was not a 
hoax.—C. G. Grey, Tipperary.'' 
[The Chinese Yam is no hoax. Its true name is the 
Dioscorea Battuta , and it is merely a mistake to call it by a 
wrong specific name. Whoever of the dealers in it first 
advertises it in our columns will find it remunerative. We 
have reason to believe that some one on the other side of 
the channel will do so, and at a cheaper rate.] 
DISASTERS FROM USING GAS-TAR IN A STOVE. 
“ It would have been well for me (and, perhaps, others) 
if Mr. Beaton had preached from liis ‘text,’ on tar and 
worms a few weeks sooner, as it would have prevented me 
from using the former article, which I have now done, to 
my sorrow. We have here four pits heated by one boiler, 
with top and bottom-heat, which we use for the growth of 
Cucumbers and Melons, French Beans, Vines in pots, 
Strawberries, and flowers. In fact, we have a variety of uses 
for these pits, and have hitherto succeeded pretty well. It 
is our practice to thoroughly clean out the pits, which we do 
by mixing a good quabtity of sulphur in lime-wash for the | 
walls, and oil and black for the hot-water pipes before 
starting, which we do about the first of January. Having 
read in The Cottage Gardener, October 10th, in answer 
to a correspondent, ‘ Slater,’ that ‘ the ammoniacal and other 
fumes from gas-tar, are beneficial to plants, but destruc¬ 
tive to insects ; ’ and, as you have told us that the answers 
you give to one correspondent, you intend for the whole 
of your readers, I thought gas-tar would be cheaper and 
better than oil for the pipes in the pits. Knowing, also, 
that the blacksmiths in this neighbourhood use it for paint¬ 
ing their iron work when hot, I set to work, and painted the 
pipes with gas-tar, having kept up a brisk fire the time I 
did them until they were quite dry. I then put in 
Cucumber seeds, Vines, and Strawberries, in one pit, and 
fiowers in another. The Cucumbers came up well, and 
looked very fair until I potted them off, then the leaves 
curled up, and they went to nothing. Beans seem to stand 
it better, although they do not look anything like what we 
generally have them. I tremble for the lines, they are now 
breaking; having started them, they must take their chance, 
I suppose. Flowers have suffered dreadfully; everything 
put in is more or less injured. A friend of mine, who 
knows how things ought to be, told me, a short time ago, I 
had the best Chinese Primulas he had seen. They are 
done for. Roses moved from a cool house where they had 
made some growth, so that you could see the flower-buds of 
some of them, are dried like tinder; in fact, everything is 
more or less injured. Mignonette, Verbenas, Honeysuckle, 
Corouilla full of flower-bud, have lost every leaf; Cinerarias 
and bulbs have not suffered so bad, but they curl a little at 
the edges of leaf. I think you will say this is a long 
catalogue of woes. Can you tell me what to do ? for as 
time goes on, I cannot see that the pits are freer from those 
fumes which you say are beneficial, but which have proved 
destructive to everything. Fortunately for me, my employer 
is a gentleman who pities me in my misfortune, although it 
must bo very vexatious to him, as time, fuel, and plants, in 
a great measure, have been sacrificed. He has been good 
enough to take The Cottage Gardener for my instruction 
from its commencement, and I should be ungrateful if I 
did not acknowledge the good I have derived from it, never 
having been led wrong, except in this case. I have always 
put full confidence in what I road, as I have always con¬ 
sidered that what you tell us is from practical experience, 
or from sources you can depend upon. 
“ We have a small house, with four Vines planted on a 
border. Inside in this little house we have various bedding 
plants. I gas-tarred the back-wall. Do you think that will 
be injurious when we get more power of sun? We have a 
flue in it, and I have been obliged to have a small fire, just 
to keep out frost, and I find from the littlo warmth I 
have given, the plants show that there is something 
there they do not like I hope you will caution every one. 
who reads The Cottage Gardener not to use gas-tar in 
any glass structure ; for I do not wish any one to have gas- 
tar in their nose night and day, as I have had lately. 
What good may result from its use in the open air, I will 
leave others who like to try. I have had enough of gas-tar 
for the present. I certainly have seen early vegetables, and 
trees, on tarred paling, quite equal to, or better, than on a 
walk—P. W.” 
[Wo regret very much that our correspondent should have 
been led into error from anything that has appeared in our 
columns; but we plead “ Not guilty ” to the charge that any 
blame rests with us. We said, on the 10th of October, and 
we say again, that the ammoniacal exhalations from gas- 
! tar are beneficial to plants, and destructive to insects; but 
we never recommended liot-water pipes to be painted with 
gas-tar, and plants to be subjected, within a confined 3pace, 
to volumes of suffocating gas, driven off in mass from the 
tar when those pipes were heated ! We once recommended 
salt as a manure for Potatoes, and a farmer told us he had 
destroyed all his crop by taking our advice. Upon inquiry, 
we found that he inserted the Potato-sets with a dibble, and 
put some salt into each hole, and thus well-pickled the sets ! 
It is quite true we gave an extract from a French paper 
(GaUynani), which said that gas-tar had been used bene¬ 
ficially in hot houses, but we coupled it with no recommenda¬ 
tion of our own; and when w r e give such extracts it is to 
elicit from some one a confirmation or refutation of the 
statements in such extracts. It obtained, in this very in¬ 
stance, a refutation from Mr. Beaton. Our experience 
extends no further than to gas-tar applied to a wall, against 
which fruit-trees were trained on an untarred trellis. It did 
not injure them, but certainly hastened the ripening of their 
fruit, by absorbing more heat from the sun’s rays.] 
MR. RIVERS’ ORCHARD HOUSE. 
“ I have read once again, with some care, your quotations 
at page 138 of the present volume, from Mr. Rivers’ 4 Minia¬ 
ture Flower Garden.’ The description of Mr. White’s Peach 
trellis has started a difficulty which I will be glad if you or 
Mr. Rivers could solve for me. The trellis-house is only 
fourteen inches high at the front, and the lights are not 
removable. How can the gardener get under the tree to 
perform the necessary operations of tying, disbudding, &c., 
leaving out of the account the fact that the trellis is fifteen 
inches from the glass ? The sunken path in the centre will 
not give access to the under branches and shoots of the tree. 
I do not in the least doubt or question the accuracy of his 
statements given, but I should like to have my difficulties 
removed.— Ct.ertcus.” 
[When our Mend “ Clericus ” recollects that the house 
is eight feet high at the back, and that it has a sunken path in 
the centre, say eighteen inches deep, he will find there will be 
sufficient access for the gardener, notwithstanding the front 
is only fourteen inches high. The trees are planted inside 
of the house, and not necessarily close to the front. We 
have seen such a liouso as is described at page 128, and 
have never seen any difficulty experienced in the management 
of the trees.] 
